Just in case any more evidence is required to support the arguments put forward by Polly Toynbee (Remainers won these elections. They`d win a referendum too, 28/05/19),and Paul Mason (Corbynism is in crisis. Labour will have to oppose Brexit, 28/05/19), for Labour to "unite around the strategy of remain and reform", the latest email to Labour members has arrived. "With parliament deadlocked", it says, the issue of Brexit "will now have to go back to the people, whether through a general election or a public vote". Avoiding a "disastrous No-Deal Brexit" is clearly crucial, but what is still missing is the essential ingredient: its policy on Europe, given today`s circumstances.
Winning a general election has become a much more remote possibility since 2017, and the reason is clear; Labour`s remain supporters will continue to leave until there is a clear commitment from Corbyn! Further delays and, as Mason says, officials like Milne and Murphy will have to go. Even Theresa May had the courage to sack Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill after her 2017 fiasco!
Your editorials have frequently and rightly warned against plots by the Labour right, which is why McCluskey was right to say that no notice should be taken of the "phoneys" like Blair and Mandelson who obviously would "sooner have a Tory government than a Corbyn government". That does not mean, however, that every criticism of Labour`s leadership should be viewed as an anti-Corbyn plot, or as Sunday`s editorial put it, a "revolt against Jeremy Corbyn" (Morning Star, 216/05/19). The fact is Labour`s approach to a second vote has been "mealy-mouthed", as Watson says, and it did cause disaster in the European polls, as it would in a general election.
Corbyn`s leadership was supposed to be based on change, including a pledge to listen to the membership, giving them "a greater say in decision-making", as he himself said after his leadership election victory in 2016. Supporters will only, to use McCluskey`s words, "stick with Corbyn" if he does what he promised, because the thousands of us who support him do so because of his principled stance on all issues.If there is, as your editorial implies, some confusion about what Labour members actually want, a ballot is vital!
Having "overwhelmingly popular policies" sadly will not win a general election if they are accompanied by a refusal to fully commit to remaining in the EU, given the awful consequences of the No-deal departure arranged by the next right-wing Tory leader.
As your editorial rightly said, the expulsion of Alastair Campbell questions whether Jeremy Corbyn "has thought carefully about the message from the voters" (Purging Alastair Campbell is a vindictive distraction from more serious issues, 29/05/19). Indeed, the whole issue highlights once again the lack of joined-up thinking in Labour`s leadership team. If the expulsion is supposed to distract from the latest anti-semitism problem, Brexit or the European election fiasco, Labour is as guilty as the Tories for treating the electorate as mugs, regarding them as unable to see what is really happening. If the decision was taken "not because of what Campbell did, but because of who he was", didn`t anyone think of what the consequences might be, of what the media would make of it, and how many others would admit to the same offence? Shouldn`t someone have pointed out the effects on the voters who need to be persuaded of Corbyn`s leadership qualities if an election victory is to become possible?
Rather than feeding the right-wing press continuously with anti-Labour propaganda, the party`s leadership team should be concentrating on ways to win the next election. At the moment they seem determined to lose it!
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